off to Florida

Today I am off (again!) to Florida, taking part in the Winter Workshop at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The theme this year is New Directions in Monte Carlo Methods. I am quite excited to meet again with many old friends (this almost sounds like a rehearsal for MCMSki 4!), but also sad that George Casella who would have been my oldest friend there will be missing. Dearly missing and missed. At the same time, I appreciate that this workshop gives me the opportunity to meet at last with George’s family (with whom I share so many memories) and his colleagues at UFL. I am sure we will have plenty of pizzas, wine(s), and laughs in remembrance of the numerous good times we all had with George. And I will run the streets we ran together, quite a while ago…